Ireland

It is so easy to let the mind wander back into space…….

Depression, Health, Mental Health, Music, Nature, Photography, Travel, Uncategorized

To quote the title of a Ministry album “The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste”” and it really can be so true. Of course everybody is different and depression and mental health problems hit and affect people in widely different ways.For me I started putting this particular post together before Christmas 2022, and never made it to the end. My productivity just stops, disappears and this time around it took many months before I managed to get anything going at all. Unfortunately there is no magic switch, people deal with it in very different ways depending on what type of treatment they are on or if they decide to try and work through it themselves, what I always did myself until it became too much. Now I am on prescribed medication, but I would prefer to not increase the dosage beyond what I am on, so kind of a vicious circle, but in my head if I can’t work through it (even with help from meds) myself in some way it is pointless just numbing everything with meds…….. we will get there 🙂

So let me fill you in on some of the stuff I’ve been doing the last 8 months. Well I decided it was time to leave the day job and take a break, that’s extended quite a bit past what I had planned but at the same time my head hasn’t been in the right place for work anyway, so I’ll get back in shape a little and go find something less stressful to do.

I did manage to get to some festivals/gigs between August and November 2022, which were good, but the work on photo was very slow afterwards for the Festivals. There was HRH Sleaze in Sheffield at the end of August and Indoor Summer 2022 in Hamburg at the start of September, and gig wise I covered both Sepultura and Amorphis in Dublin around November time, which was awesome. Have a lot of plans this year, have started off really badly, but managed to shoot HRH Blues in Sheffield a couple of weeks back and I’m off to Uprising in Leicester next week, fingers crossed.

Photos are always a bit subjective, and for me this is definitely one of them, I both love it and don’t at the same time, I love that I managed to get a jump shot (something oddly I have had problems with over the last couple of years) but at the same time it’s not as clean as I’d like etc…….. anyway, it’s Christmas week (was when I typed this), so we will go with the love side of things 🙂

Was great to get away and catch up with friends and colleagues, and the same was true at Indoor Summer in Hamburg, my first time visiting Germany and loved the Festival and atmosphere.

Lee Aaron closing out the Indoor Summer 2022 Festival.

It’s amazing being able to catch up with friends from all across Europe, including Ireland, when you travel to an event like this one, already looking forward to Sept 2023.

We now have a standing visit to Dublin Zoo on or about the 29th of December each year, it is usually not crazy busy and we seem to have luck with the weather. Also it is certainly one of the places to see if you visit Dublin.

Every time I get the chance to shoot a band that I’m a massive fan of it is a real privilege, and that holds through when shotting them for the 2nd, 3rd or whatever time. I’ve been listening to and going to see Sepultura for more than 30 years, so getting to shot them in my home time was something a bit special for me, similar with Amorphis and I’m forever grateful to Metal Planet Music (or whichever organisation I’m shooting on behalf of) for the opportunity to do so.

2023 for me didn’t start well, I just couldn’t get my head working, so the first 3 months were a bust, nada, nothing missed a lot of gigs. So as April started I was slapping myself saying right lets just do this, and I was determined to get going, and I have at least gotten started. Another trip to Sheffield this time for HRH Blues has helped immensely, ok, didn’t help my bum knee, but that’s a different issue 😉 Two days, 15 bands on a single stage, so not so much running around as usual. But getting to see new bands to me, working with friends and trying to get back into the swing of things was brilliant. Hard work, but brilliant. Tested out some new travel routes and will try that again next week for Uprising in Leicester. will just mean less working around and train time.

The Bad Day – HRH Blues VII, O2 Academy – 09-04-2023

Alongside that we managed to get a break in last week to Donegal, this time Carrickfinn, Donegal. Just beside the Airport, beautiful Beaches, stunning landscapes, all you could want, add to that it’s not too far from a lot of other places to visit and it’s hard to beat, the Wild Atlantic Way really is a stunning Below are a couple of shots from the wonderful Killahoey Beach, Dunfanaghy, Co. Donegal.

Wish me well with getting back on the horse and getting out and about a lot more, Have gotten a couple of album reviews written, but have 2 more to finish today, if possible. Nearly there, but as I have found out the problem now is that last little bot a paragraph or two that become impossible to drag out of the recesses of the mind.

Hope you all have a brilliant Spring/Summer, and whatever helps you with any problems make use of it, life is too short to live on the couch when you can be up and about…..

A little change from the music photography………

Depression, Health, Mental Health, Nature, Photography, Travel, Uncategorized

Just a quick post with some photos of a wonderful visit we recently had to the Wild Ireland sanctuary in Burnfoot, Co. Donegal. It’s the second time we have visited in 2 years and loved the many additional animals we managed to see this around along with the Wolves and Bears. Also managed to catch some informational talks from the staff on the animals and work being done on the habitats.

Artic Fox – Wild Ireland – Burnfoot, Co. Donegal. Ireland

This time around we were very lucky with the weather and managed to get around for the whole day without even getting wet, definitely unusual for October, with a lot of sunshine. I don’t ever remember seeing a Golden Pheasant before, but they are beautify and the ridiculously cute Artic Fox.

Golden Pheasant – Wild Ireland – Burnfoot, Co. Donegal. Ireland

There are so many places to take in when visiting Ireland, especially when you travel out towards the Western Coastline, but I think this place is now on our list when we go to Donegal. It wasn’t far from our base in Carndonagh either so not a million miles from Malin Head. If you are checking out the Wild Atlantic way, especially in the North West of the country then definitely check it out. There were a lot more animals than I have put in this post, but didn’t want top overload it. A nice walk among nature certainly does a lot for your mental wellbeing, keeps the head straight and brings better thoughts into the mind. And this is certainly the kind of thing that brings you out of a Depression funk.

more photos below, keep safe and enjoy the many holiday seasons ahead.

Snowy Owl – Wild Ireland – Burnfoot, Co. Donegal. Ireland

Getting a break to save some sanity, but everyone has the same idea.

Depression, Health, Mental Health, Nature, Photography, Travel, Uncategorized

Well 2022 seems to be the great escape for most people, if they can and especially with the costs rising as they are both for flights, accommodation and anything else you need for spending money has to be recalculated, inflation everywhere is so much fun. For us it was another staycation, but this time in the South West of Ireland, Kerry to be precise, as we continue to explore the stunning Wild Atlantic Way and the Coastline on the opposite side of the Country to where we live. But holidays and trips away at the moment are much more than just a vacation, they really can be therapeutic.

Portmagee, County Kerry on the Wild Atlantic Way

Beautiful peaceful place, but perhaps when you are feeling down that is not enough, I know that even during the depths I was in last year getting out and checking out the local scenery around my walking routes did a lot of good, and the same has to be said about being on a trip away, getting out to parks, gardens etc provides additional help without doing anything else. One big additional bonus on this trip was nighttime, the area we stayed in is a Dark Sky Preserve, what this means is that there is a lot less light pollution and the Night Sky should be more visible. While we have beautiful weather a lot during the daytime, nights were often quite cloudy, one night I noticed the Moon being bright and visible so took a walk outside around midnight and wow, what an amazing sight, spirits were lifted immediately, the whole Sky was fully illuminated with stars, constellations and sheer beauty,I had never seen so much clarity above me and the brightness of the illumination was just amazing.

View of Valentia Island from Portmagee Cottage

Sadly I have no Night Sky photos with the exception of a couple of shots of the moon, will pus one below. But there are photos here around Valentia, Kerry Cliffs and the Beaches.

One of the many stunning views from the Kerry Cliffs.

Times to reflect and sit out in the evening sunshine, just putting your feet up and watching life pass by, boats on the lake beside us, cars climbing hills on the Island opposite, this was just what we needed. Don’t get me wrong we always have our struggles, and we are never sure that plans will ever be what the little guy wants to do or if it’s just going to be one of those days, but the 10 minutes of joy can make up for anything else when away on a trip. The Kerry Cliffs were simply beautiful to check out from different angles and we would definitely recommend them for the small entrance fee, it’s well worth it. Plenty of islands to check out other than the Skelligs and I’m sure the many species of birds to be spotted around the Cliffs adds to any visit.

After getting back we were already looking at organising trips for next year and the area we were in this time around remains very much in our thoughts, alongside a return to Donegal next Easter.

But please remember, you don’t need to get away far, but a break anywhere can do wonders for the mind, your mental health or just to get a rest and fresh air, even if you can only afford or take a day trip somewhere then do it. We all need it, we have rolled into September now but the weather is still decent and perhaps last minute deals are looking better than they were. From the time I started writing this to the time I finished it there’s no doubt I got caught up in my own head for a while, and then all of a sudden some Festival Trips took over. Please remember to keep the mind active, get out of the house get some fresh air, enjoy your surroundings if you can or take a trip to the nearest park or green area.

Why’s it so hard to just get out of the house these days ?

AOR, Depression, Health, Mental Health, Music, Nature, Photography, Travel, Uncategorized

Well it’s been a while since I posted, so here’s a little update on the oddities of life in 2022. Although many have been saying that the Covid Pandemic is over, and don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait for it to be finished, it’s definitely not and is still affecting life in general.

Over the last couple of weeks a few more gigs or Tours have been cancelled because band members have contracted the virus, have seen the same across Europe and the US, it doesn’t take much for smaller bands to have to cancel or postpone things when a date or two are going to be missed out on. There’s bound to be some issues for venues too with regards to staffing.

This week sees the start for me of getting back on the train with regards to going to and shooting gigs, tomorrow night I have Dark Tranquility making their very long awaited Irish debut. Then at the weekend I have a trip planned to the HRH Blues Festival in Sheffield, all going well, with Bernie Marsden and Wilko Johnson Headlining each night.

Between working from home full time, health issues and the added problem of Depression over the last 10 months it really has been a messy couple of years, and it’s taken a toll psychologically. I did get away to the Uprising Festival in Leicester last year, but that was it, and have struggled to get the motivation to get out to things locally over the last couple of months. Leaving the house isn’t a problem, still walking regularly, and building up the distances again to 10km a walk, so that’s good, but for sanity and the soul I need to get back to gigs. Photographing tomorrow night and at the weekend, so that should be motivation enough, and a lot of additional work to do, but it’s worth it.

Hasn’t just been a lack of motivation with regards to getting out and about, it’s massively affected writing anything, review wise, for so long now. it’s a real struggle to finish things off, and you’d thing that would be the easy bit sometimes. But I’m trying to work on it from a different perspective and we will see how it goes.

This could well be the last year I’ll be able to do multiple UK Festivals, even for individual shows it’s getting more and more expensive to travel and get accommodation in the UK from here. At the moment I think travel anywhere is expensive, but it eventually reaches a line where it becomes just too much. Checking prices for later in the year and it’s much more than usual, when it starts costing as much as a family holiday it really would be too much. The cost of living generally is going to make things more difficult anyway, so when you have additional costs for everything travelling becomes less fun. So I’ll go out with a bang this year and hit as much as I can, along with the Indoor Summer Festival in Hamburg which I’m looking forward to immensely, will hopefully be a very exciting and interesting few months ahead. With gigs still getting announced every week it looks like you won’t be able to walk out of the house without hitting one, and it’s great to see pictures of full venues for shows with small or large capacities.

Not too long now until the outdoor Festival season either, so bring it on. Bloodstock for sure, maybe a day or two here and there aside from that…. would love to get over and bit a farewell to KISS at Download, even if it was just for the Friday night. Aside from all that we will be doing another staycation this year, trying the beautiful South West this time around to cover off another part of the Wild Atlantic Way. There will be day trips here and there and I need to get back to the Botanic Gardens soon.

Wishing you all a very happy, interesting and safe year to come, and Rock it .

Things we take for granted…..

Health, Mental Health, Music, Nature, Photography, Uncategorized

Well ok, that could be a list much longer than my arm, but with everything that’s happened in general over the last 18 months, and that additional personal stuff, it was nice to take a couple of hours out on a sunny Sunday morning at the weekend, bring the camera with me and just enjoy some nature in the area that I live in Dublin. This is certainly one of those things that we don’t pay nearly enough attention to, I’m not saying I don’t look at things as I walk by, but these photos are all from one of my normal walking routes, but grabbing a glance as you walk, run or drive quickly past when out getting exercise is not the same as taking the time to enjoy it and be part of it.

Simply taking the time to stand or sit and watch the wildlife go about their daily tasks is an eye opener, it has an ability to give you a bit of a lift and brings a smile to your face. So it’s great for the mental health. The two Horses have been resident in that a field for quite a while now, and I usually raise a little smile as I walk past as their is usually someone there saying hello to them, people seem to bring their young children just to visit the Horses which is nice. The Swans moved their young Cygnets up and down a couple of stretches of water and decided they liked this small manmade pond to gently swim around.

Most people have suffered to some degree with their Mental Health during this extended period or Pandemic, have lost loved ones or just had the whole thing affect their health, so it’s important to just take a step back, get your mind out of it all and free yourself up from thinking about it. Taking a walk/run definitely helps to some degree, but taking time out for much more gentle times with some nature is an even better way to reset somethings. Doesn’t make problems disappear, but some days they can just wait a few hours and often you can look at a problem from a different perspective when you get back from some relaxation.

Photos aside the world keeps turning slowly, dates come and go with little difference, having recently lost someone I honestly couldn’t tell you very much of what’s been going on the last 3 weeks, what I’ve been doing or to be honest what day it is. On the flipside we have gotten through a lot of work, Cleared a house, started a new project to digitise a few albums worth or old photographs, some very old, a lot from my childhood, and plenty we are not sure who is actually in them – but I guess that’s half the fun, we will go through them with relatives and try and figure them out. The older photos don’t have negatives, so a bit more work involved in cleaning up the images a bit, trying to bring them back to life a little without taking away anything from what they are. May take a bit of time, but it’s going to be interesting and hopefully a lot of fun.

Lot’s a things crop into the mind at a time like this, how short out time actually is on this rock, maybe it’s time to change things up and make some choices that will make life a bit more simple, less stressful and demanding while at the same time still being able to pay the bills, as they never stop coming in 😉

Going to try and get back to posting updates a little more often, there’s enough going on. Going to get my 2nd dose of the vaccine this coming weekend, so that’s not exactly something I’m looking forward to, but it’s another step forward. Pilot music events have begun or been announced here, so hopefully, all going well we will eventually get back to some little bit of normality in the not too distant future. Sadly however I don’t see it coming quickly enough for some of the events I have Tickets for, and will have to try and sort something out with the Tickets. Can’t see there being refunds for events in another country when it is actually going to take place. But will have to wait and see if that’s how it plays out. One in particular is going to be in my opinion lucky if they get the go ahead, even though they have done a lot to fulfil all requirements asked of them, that doesn’t really matter when it’s a liquid situation and the goalposts keep changing. If it doesn’t happen I will be there next year. One thing is for sure if things improve enough in the rest of the year 2022 is going to be one hell of a busy year music wise. so many bands will be out touring when they can. Travel, well that’s a different story – time will tell.

Things may be changing in a positive way, but……..

AOR, Health, Mental Health, Music, Nature, Travel, Uncategorized

Well here we are in March 2021, one full year since things locked down in most places, certainly here in Ireland, and from my perspective I was just about to test the water so to speak with regards to going back to the Live Music scene. Being 100% honest, even now a year on I do not know if physically and mentally I’ll be able to do Gigs and more worryingly for me, Festivals anymore. Time will tell, but I really hope I can, it’s something I love doing.

The effort required to shoot 3 consecutive Days of any Festival is probably a lot more than people appreciate, it’s not just a case of sitting around for 10 hours and going to stand for 10 minutes of every set, that’s for sure. Take my normal situation for a Festival in the UK, lets take something in the Midlands, 2 or 3 Day Festival,

I would fly into either Birmingham or East Midlands on the first flight, arriving between 7-9am.
Make my way to the City where the venue is by Bus or Train.
Check into my Accommodation
Organise my Camera bag and Festival accreditation
Double check camera batteries are charged, memory cards are cleared
Depending on the start time for that day either lay down and rest for an hour or make my way to the venue, grabbing a sandwich on the way.
Check in, catch up with friends and colleagues.
Get ready for shooting, test the camera/s for basic lighting etc.
Then we begin the process, queue for the Photo Pit to open, first 3 songs to shoot, pray that there is some decent lighting for the early bands.
Depending on the Festival, get some shots from the back of the venue or the balcony if that’s permitted.
Then get back in the queue for the next band or move to the 2nd stage to try and catch the band there for coverage. REPEAT 🙂
Oh and try and remember to get some foot and maybe find somewhere to sit down for 30 minutes at some point.
Last band will either be 11:15pm or 2:15am when the shooting stops, but as I am normally reviewing as well it means I have to watch the last band of the day until they finish, so maybe 2:40am
Back to the accommodation, dump the photos from the memory card/s to a laptop & back up Hard Drive.
Edit a selection of photos picked somewhat at random and post a couple of Social Media.
Try and get some sleep before you get up for a shower, Breakfast and begin again for a busier day on Day 2 and REPEAT :-). You get a lot of steps in, but it’s tiring and hard work.

So we will see first of all if we do get any Festivals running this year, and whether or not I can get to one. As it stands now early March we have already had major Festivals in June postponed again to next year with Download pushed back recently, only today Bloodstock started the difficult decisions of having to announce changes to the lineup, with a number of US bands pulling out of the 2021 event due to the current situation, they are still hoping to go ahead and put the Festival on in June. Other Festivals in September are already preparing people for the possibility that they can’t proceed, as with everything in Covid times, we will wait and see 🙂

The main problem for smaller Festivals I think is that is you add in restrictions on the size of the crowd, and other stuff it makes it neither Financially viable to continue nor would it be the event they had planned it to be. From my reading of things right now, it looks like a lot of US bands will not be travelling to Europe this year, as things currently stand anyway, everything of course is fluid but for Festivals they have to make decisions a little earlier than one off shows, so as you head towards April/May you can add 3-4 months onto the events that will be effected. Another UK Festival due to take place in July is now looking like UK bands only, and there’s nothing wrong with the bands in the lineup, it’s just that some of the bands no longer there would have been a big draw for most patrons, and it does effect the vibe if it were to take place. Ryanair Flights in June are currently being cancelled so that will affect other plans.

I do think that we will get some shows happening later in the year, and that’s something to look forward to for sure. Smaller local events might be good for me to test my stamina and get back to using the camera again in a live setting, so fingers crossed. Certainly my walking schedule will help, just have to make sure I’m taking rest days the odd time. I can be either doing nothing for too long a period like happened at the end of last year, or probably doing too much as I am at the moment, almost up to 500KM done in 2021 already so a day ever now and then, or my body will get overtired. I was going to do some charity stuff this month like “50 Miles in March” but i’ve already don’t 50 miles 🙂 might just do another 5KM walk on St. Patricks Day. Am adjusting my year end Target from 2,000KM to 2,500KM so that will keep me pushing forward through the months. Right I’m now signed up for a 5KM on Patricks Day now in aid of Aware, a Mental Health Support organisation here in Ireland, and in the last couple of days I’ve passed the 500KM mark since the start of the year, so will just keep going and think when the weather is a bit nicer I might increase the distances again. To be honest I’ve been a little bit mentally exhausted the last few weeks, so just glad to be doing stuff, sometimes I need to overdo things just to reboot the head and get things back on track, but hey, but listen if that’s what it takes it’s a small price to pay as long as I’m sensible enough to get a little more rest around this time to balance things out a bit, the fickle way of things. Of course the diet always takes a bad turn at these times, the exercise helps to somewhat cancel it out along with the extra rest of course, so will move on re-align and hopefully click back into place again, so many things to do as we approach more challenges coming into middle age.

The little monster finally went back to Preschool last week, and we noticed the happy change in him almost straight away, which is awesome, much happier in himself and loving being back in his school routine. So much happier to be doing his thing, which is just great to see, makes us all smile 🙂 and lifts your spirits as we look like we may be staying in Lockdown for another 6 weeks or so. There is a definite feeling at this stage that we have been doing out bit for a long time, but I guess a little more is needed, perhaps this is all due to delays with the promised supply of Vaccine, would like to be scheduled for mine so at least I know then where I stand, but as with everyone else we are just in the dark, hopefully soon.

So what else has been going on, well, work has been busy, I haven’t been able to get back into writing reviews, been busy with everything else that’s going on in life at the moment alongside work and exercise. I really would like to get back into it though, there are a lot of good albums being released at the moment and scheduled for the coming months. As strange as this sounds, as time goes on and the fact that it has been so long since I had my last fit, I almost forget about the Epilepsy at times, yes I know I said it sounds strange, after all I take tablets every morning and night to keep it under control, it hasn’t just disappeared. Well recently we’ve had a lot of great information, lots of wonderful stories from people about when they got Epilepsy and what their stories have been, through Epilepsy Ireland (really some wonderful, heartfelt stories and certainly some that I know from personal experience are not always that easy to tell other people about, brave to do it and so very informative for people that have been recently diagnosed. When I first was (well I was kind of diagnosed) some 31 years ago I had no idea where to go to in order to get information, who I could tell or talk to, but as I became a more confident person I decided to own it and I have been very open about my condition ever since. Touch wood I will stay incident free for another year and will continue to never let it dictate my life. This weekend marks the 6th anniversary of the first time I officially shot a Music Festival, HRH AOR 3 (or HRH United as it was, which also combined Hammerfest and Sleaze, was a really great weekend in North Wales and kicked off many trips to the same venue at the Haven Holiday Camp in Hafan Y Mor, Pwllheli. The main hall there is just something they don’t make for venues anymore, lots of thought in the attendees being able to see from wherever they are, 3 tiers leading from the back to the stage large bar and an exit directly into a couple of food venues, with a cpacity of over 2,000 just a great space, and ideal for small Festivals. The black & white image at the top of this post is of Swedish Hard Rock band The Poodles from that very weekend.

We did jump this week and book our family holiday for later in the year, will be staying in Ireland, so that eliminates a number of extra complexities with foreign travel, a beautiful cottage nestled in what looks like some lovely local views in Donegal, I took the below photo of Mukish Mountain from the wonderful Glanveagh National Park, the cottage for this year is just a few minutes drive from the mountain so hopefully will be able to get some nice shots, and we do love the area, so we have no problem with staying close enough to home when the scenery is stunning and we know our way around, slightly new place to stay so good to have some change. We already have some day trips sorted out in our minds and hopefully the little guy will be a little more involved it things this time around, the fresh air is always good for him. Plenty of new explorations and interesting new things to see and learn about. Having a nice break to look forward to is always a good thing for the mental health, just as much as getting out in that beautiful air and exercising helps, having a nice trip to look forward to is definitely another thing that helps.

Mukish Mountain shot from Glanveagh National Park, Co. Donegal in 2019

The difficulties of recovery during a lockdown………

Health, Mental Health, Music, Nature, Uncategorized

Well here I am again, pondering the current state of affairs and how I am coping with it all, and as with most people at the moment no matter where you are on this Globe, there are good days and bad days, positives and disappointments. A main issue for me has certainly been missing out on the professional help through this now lengthy recovery, so not being able to get out there for hospital appointments, which alongside my Cardio Rehab had to be cancelled was difficult to handle to be honest. So missing out on tailored exercise and advice, dietician, psychologist etc…….. with unfortunately no sign of anything being rescheduled in the near future, fingers crossed all measures continue to work and it can be sorted out soon.

Here in Ireland our current restrictions to try and contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus are due to end in the next couple of days, and all going to plan we will move into the next phase. That will be followed, assuming all goes well, by 5 x 3 week long phases reducing restrictions each time until the end of August, yep seems like a long time, but hopefully at that stage if all is ok we will be in a much better position. As we already knew live music will be still off the menu until at the very earliest late Sept/Oct, but we really can’t put a proper timescale on it at the moment. More Festivals either postponed or cancelled recently including Bloodstock (postponed to 2021 with an extra day – nice one Bloodstock), Summer Indoors 2020 (postponed to 2021, and Uprising which won’t happen for 2020 now, but will return bigger in 2021. There are still many events that have not yet, but will be cancelled, with bands, promoters etc waiting on the right time for an announcement, holding out hope that things will get back to normal sooner than expected or simply waiting until they have rescheduled the event until they announce the cancellation of the original version. On the positive side, more Tours/shows have been rescheduled for later in the year or for the same time next year.

Up until now, and even with that it had only become knowledge to me over the last couple of weeks, I have only known a couple of people that had actually tested positive for coronavirus, and they had all been lucky enough to have contracted a mild dose of it and are already recovered. But sadly that all changed when it really hit close to home and the difficulties other families have run into hit me square in the face. When an elderly member of your family falls ill with this virus alongside the natural worries about them you realise that the other problems associated with the lockdown are affecting you, that you can’t go and visit them, no matter how ill they may become you can only hope they are coherent enough for a video call, or to hear you on the telephone. Once someone tests positive and they will be isolated from the rest of the people in their facility, they may be confused, needing to be reminded about the virus each day should they be suffering from dementia, more than likely they are already suffering from underlying medical issues which will make it more difficult to overcome the effects of the virus, and as the Hospitals do not necessarily have the capacity to take in these patients an increased pressure and burden falls on the care facility they reside in. The message to #stayhome #staysafe is so important, accidentally passing the virus onto an elderly person in the community will have very similar effects, and yet everyday we still see many cases of people not following social distancing guidelines. This will only lead to one thing in the end more infections and a longer time period where we have to isolate/distance/miss out on the normal things in life we had up to this point taken for granted, won’t be taking anything for granted in future.

Of course we have in many ways been very lucky on this island that the hospitals were not over run, the very hard working staff and a larger community effort than we have probably seen in decades has helped without a doubt, the actions of Govt to help out employers and employees may be very costly, but in the end will save us so much as a nation. Since I started to write this I had a bit of a mental blockage and it’s ended up taking forever to finish, but hey ho, so many friends have been struggling aswell, mentally, deep dips and no massive highs to balance them out. More shows have bitten the dist this week, Iron Maiden in Belfast cancelled and Rammstien in the same City hopefully rescheduled, along with a few smaller shows. It’s a real shame the Maiden lineup was unreal, with Tempt, Airbourne, Alter Bridge and Maiden headlining, one hell of a lineup. but that’s it in a nutshell, try not to let the disappointments get to you too much, what the future holds, especially for music, how we will be able to socially distance and maintain any sort of a vibe, hold onto an atmosphere, and what it will look and feel like, it’s a mystery. Have been reading a number of articles from various people in the industry and what I’ve garnered most is exactly that fact nobody knows what is going to happen yet.

For me, well, I’m back working a full week, from home, trying to push myself a bit harder physically and lee[ the sanity there is some semblance of tact. None of that is easy, strangely enough, the things I thought would be easiest to control haven’t worked out that way, the diet has been a lot more back on track as my mam recovers slowly, Working hard on my walking, and also stepped things up a bit. Last week managed to hit 8.5km without keeling over, so then got inspired this week by a good friend that is walking 10km+ every day in May to raise some much needed funds for a very good cause, so this week I managed to his 10km for the first time Monday, maintained it on Tuesday and still hit my 10,000 steps today, but not quite the 10km, still it’s a bit increase in workload, so ensuring I’m not pushing too hard, if I need to I’ll back off again for a day and then try and hit back to the higher level again, it’s certainly been difficult at times, trying not to get frustrated with people wandering around the streets ignoring guidelines, or groups of kids that just don’t know or care, but I’ll stick to my back roads, keep doing my loops and looks some weight at the same time, only shed 10 to 11 kg’s so far, but that’s definitely a good start 😉

So lets keep doing what we need to do, try and keep our minds from going off the reservation, if you are in the situation where you are not or cannot work, get out and get your exercise in the fresh air, it’s a life saver. Sleep certainly hasn’t been good for most people and I’m no different, staying up later and getting up early for work, broken sleep, it’s tiring, but thankfully to date no sign of anything being triggered with my epilepsy, also glad I’ve not really noticed any side affects yet from my heart medications. Video calls with friends, colleagues, family has been something that has become a new social life for many, be it quiz\es or dinner parties or social drinks, it’s just another thing to help people get through it. Have been looking back through old sets of photos checking out Landscapes from visits to the West Coast, I’ve said it many times, but the Wild Atlantic Way on the West Coast of Ireland is simply stunning, and when things eventually get back to some form of normal get yourself out there to see some of the beautiful scenery around your own country, we so often take it all for granted.

#staysafe #stayhome and look after yourselves.

The ongoing recovery update…

Health, Mental Health, Music, Nature, Uncategorized

Well here we are having rolled into March, this week will mark 2 months since my heart attack and although I’m definitely seeing progress it is still frustratingly slow for me. As with pretty much all recoveries from surgery, but certainly from a major surgery there are good days and bad days in the months that follow. For me the operation itself was the easy bit, which wasn’t how I thought things would be, I knew I needed it so automatically got my head adjusted and of course was slightly nervous, but was eager to get through it. If may have been nearly 3 hours and a lot more difficult than expected for the surgeons, but 3 days after a heart attack I had my new Stents installed and was looking forward to the road to recovery. (to give you some idea of the relative size of a Stent there’s a cover photo above and another below).

Two months on and having been at home for almost the whole time since and there has been some elements of going stir crazy, although I have returned to a very limited amount of work action, a lot of days are filled with eating, going out for walks or to the shops and trying to plan various different Hospital visits or to my mam, it’s all go 😉

With the Nursing Home now on lockdown one of my walking routes is currently out of action, but it’s very important that elderly people are exposed as little as possible to the possible threat of virus infection, so it is what it is, phone calls to check things for the moment. In the meantime have gotten some of the administrative stuff progressed a little so that takes a little off my mind, I think it wouldn’t have been possible to sort from now for a couple of months.

Two weeks ago I had a cardio assessment in the Hospital for my Rehab Classes, all went very well and my classes have now been scheduled, so that’s good, but with the many issues that the spread of Coronavirus is now causing there is a chance that schedule may be thrown into disarray, time will tell, For now I am really hoping to get them started, I’ve gotten my walking up to around 5km a day, which is a good start, but after having a very bad week or so diet wise (well there has definitely been a valley of depression over the whole covid-19 issue, it’s one thing to be isolated because of limited physical activity, quite another to be made stay home due to an increasingly rapidly spreading virus that is more dangerous to me as someone with an underlying condition, don’t get me wrong it doesn’t scare me, but I’m sensible enough to not put myself at further risk for no reason. But this whole situation certainly has it’s effects on mental health, and that can certainly contribute to throwing a well maintained diet out the window for a short period of time, so hopefully back on track now, touch wood, and if we can get the Rehab going it will definitely help.

Newbridge House

Newbridge House-1

Was really nice to get out and about yesterday with the camera for the first time this year, just a walk in the grounds of Newbridge House and Farm with the family and a few photos of the scenery and Deer. Luckily have been able to get out for walks once or twice a day most days up till now, have avoided being out in the storms, but my estate is large enough to get out on different routes to avoid monotony and still get me to the 5km+ mark. It’s a very quiet St.Patricks Day today here in Dublin, of course no Parades going on, hundreds of thousands of people in close proximity would be stupid and a breathing ground for new infections, more and more pubs closed and most people that I’m seeing adopting the advice to avoid unnecessary contact etc…….. so was definitely nice to have a wander around some nice grounds yesterday.

Newbridge House-2

Newbridge House-3

The number of people there were understandably smaller than usual, but is as it should be, and aside from passing people on the path or around the park contact is very much at a minimum, none of which of course is bothering the Deer at all, they are happily munching away on grass and relaxing.

Sleep patterns have sadly gone right out the window alongside the poor diet over the last while, maybe it’s a little worry about everything in the back of my mind, but no issues with the Epilepsy, no fits, and continue to take medication as I always have, will just keep an eye on it and rest when I need to, being down does not help it, but keeping the brain ticking over steadies me, listening to some new music has lifted things slightly, purchasing some new items and listening to albums I’m due to review on my walks is definitely the solution. My thoughts go out to anyone in a bad place already that now has to self isolate, if your deep in a hole just reach out to a friend or organisation and have a chat, it will help. Right now it’s looking like most countries in Europe are going to lock down for an unknown period so hang in there.folks, like any other downturn we can all get through this. How the Govt’s go about helping people who are either no longer getting a wage or are in other financial difficulties as a direct result of the Virus has yet to be seen, but hopefully common sense can be impressed upon the Banks so that stress can be lifted.

All live Music events in Ireland have been cancelled or postponed for the significant future, right now they are cancelling/postponing events through the end of April and a few in May/June, well you have to understand that Tours span Europe and also span months so anything starting in April and running into May will go, and right now I would personally be surprised if the big gigs planned for June and some of the larger Festivals didn’t get pulled in the coming weeks. I missed out on HRH AOR last week and with their other Fests Hammerfest and HRH Prog IX having also now been cancelled I’d expect HRH Blues to go very soon, it’s just not possible to get artists around the Globe at the moment, nevermind insurance etc……. was really cool to see Code Orange going ahead with their Album Release the other night in an empty venue but being Livestreamed to fans all over the globe, it will be the way of the future for the moment I think and at least bands and venues can probably recoup some costs from it, remember to go support your local favourite bands, if they can’t play and have had to cancel shows/tours they are losing money and may have t-shirts that were for a Tour that you can go pick up from their website or a CD etc…. and help them survive, same with promoters, if a show is cancelled, don’t just look for a refund, wait for the rescheduled date and if you can’t make it get a refund and buy a ticket for a show later in the year, we all have to help out in these difficult times. So my return to Photographing gigs will quite possibly be pushed back until the 2nd half of 2020, hopefully things will improve quicker than that and some local gigs get back on the calendar quicker but we will have to wait and see, the longer stuff is off the longer it will take to restart.

Most importantly, continue to follow medical advice, thoroughly wash your hands for 20 seconds, use hand sanitiser where appropriate (mostly entering shops), but get shopping delivered where possible, don’t go sit in a pub all night, don’t sit beside someonre on a bus or train when there are spare seats, or avoid using at all if possible, the reality is even looking at the UK they are hoping to keep the number of deaths under 20,000 – right now there are 56, just think that if they expect the peak in a month or two so at some point there the Death rate would be well over 1000 per week, some very difficult times ahead, no matter where you live, so stay safe, do what you are asked from a safety perspective and we can all get back to normal at some point and start doing the things we love again – I’m going to get back to writing reviews (yeah I know I say that on every update, but I’m working on them).

Love and light to all

Never take your Health for granted……..

Health, Music, Uncategorized

Well it’s been a somewhat interesting week to say the least. Have spoken before about looking after an elderly relative and the stress and pressure that comes along side that, and how over time it just continues to build, and don’t get me wrong it is very important to keep elderly people living at home for as long as possible, but at times you take on too much, or you just can’t provide the care and attention they need. So last Wednesday ended up in the hospital, which was crazily overcrowded, and then looking after them at home through the rest of the week.

Arriving home from my bit of care work on Friday evening, Id had a bit of discomfort in my chest all day, but put it down to indigestion, typical man, just ignore it and it will go away, but then a sharp pain in my chest for around 60 seconds and I did the sensible thing, called an ambulance and after being checked out went to Hospital to get Blood Tests and a Doctor once over. After 10 hours of waiting in A&E finally got in to see someone and within about 15 minutes I was being checked in, probable Heart Attack and the fun began.

As always the care in the Hospital was second to none, how they manage to do so in those conditions is beyond me, the hours are too long, the facilities inadequate for the number of patients, and they all deserve a bloody medal, the Govt in Ireland really should be ashamed of themselves continuing for so many years not addressing problems every man on the street can see are obvious. Anyway, a weekend of tests and then Monday a nearly 3hr operation to install some Stents into my heart and get things working better again. How quickly things can change. The blockages/narrowing were in an awkward place which definitely didn’t help, and how weird it is to be awake while it’s all heppening. We all take so much for granted, and it literally takes 1 minute for everything to change. Home now and resting, but so many changes have to be made, and right now the future is still very uncertain. Changes of Diet and Exercise are a given, but there’s so much else on top of it, capacity to help care for someone else, work and just how much of what I do now can I continue to do, then there is my beloved music, don’t know if I can get back to Photography or if it will have to be something I give up, But most importantly will be staying around for my family, my little guy will need me around for a long time yet, even if I can’t lift him up at the moment, which is really hurting me.

So some advice, take care of yoursef before it is forced upon you, we only get one shot at this thing so don’t play around with it. Never ignore the warning signs and if you don’t feel right and have a pain/discomfort you’ve never experienced before in your chest – go get it checked out before something happens. And try to always have 300mg of Asprin around handy in your home or on you for chewing if something happens, if could just be the difference. For me I’m going from one tablet for my Epilepsy to 6 tablets a day, big change and always a worry some medication won’t play well with others.

For now, rest and recouperation, cancelled gigs for the next while and no overextending. We can all do this, but will take more discipline in future and perhaps not trying to be everything to everyone. Take care of yourselves……………..

I Get Knocked Down……. and not as easy to get up…

Mental Health, Music, Uncategorized

Lately I have been starting to wonder is your mind much like being a boxer, when you are younger you get knocked down and even if it’s something that floors you for a while, you step right back up again and even if your head has been scrambled you just don’t let it phase you much. But perhaps every time you take a mental blow it cuts down your strength and resolve a little, and just maybe as you get older and keep taking mental blows you windup like a boxer that has carried on their career that bit too long, and every time you get hit you are slower to get back up and much slower to bounce back.

Right now that’s exactly how I feel, and it’s affecting other parts of life, sleeping, concentration, mood, pretty much everything. It’s easy enough these days to attribute everything to stress, being busy in all aspects of life, and that leading to depression, and sadly it’s pretty much right every time, but depression tends to come in bouts when it passes you can usually fight your way back out of the hole you are stuck in, perhaps if one bout runs into another and you are not sleeping and overtired that ability disappears. But at the end of the day you still need to keep fighting it, keep trying to climb back out of that hole.

This time around it definitely feels like a truck ran right over me, stopped and then reversed over me again. Even with this Blog entry I started writing it a few weeks ago and then the words ground to a halt, so back to square one again. That has certainly had a massive impact on trying to get any review work completed, on top of many other things that have slowed down. But at least this week attempting to write has lifted me a little, and getting out to a couple of shows, which were both amazing by the way, had brought some normality back to life. The image at the top of the page is just a personal memory from the show, wasn’t shooting it for anyone, but if you get an opportunity get out and see Sons Of Apollo, having so many super talented musicians on stage at one time is very rare, but they all put in 100% effort and energy into their show, true professionals.

Attempting to ease some of the external pressures has proven a little more difficult than expected, but any piece of progress helps and besides these things always seem to take time to get sorted out now. So we push forwards as much as we can.

At least I managed to submit a Review this week, the excellent Myles Kennedy, you can read it now over on the Overdrive website. Great photos by my good friend Steve at Down The Barrel Photography.

Myles Kennedy Review – Dublin 05-07-2018

What’s next ?

keeep fighting, try and get the head back in some semblance of working order. On the music/photography side, I’m working on a couple of Album Reviews and have the new Roack/Blues/Metal Festival to come in a couple of weeks, Rally Of The Lough in Co. Meath Ireland, with acts like Pat McManus Band, Phil Campbell And The Bastards, DARE, Coroner, Samarkind and many more, really looking forward to shooting this one.

Keeping busy, but not too busy, and organising shows and stuff for the rest of the year, changes in circumstances mean only a couple of nights a weeks are at all possible now, but that’s a lot better than nothing. Roll with the punches, and hopefully get back up a little quicker next time \m/ \m/

Off to the tropical Sheffield and Nottingham for sure, and maybe squeeze in one more, and some stuff next year already beginning to fill in.

When deep in the hole I managed to have a couple of chats with good friends, not deep conversations or anything, but sometimes a chat will be enough to help you crawl out, so if you are down, just don’t ever forget to talk to friends, they will be there for you, so say hello and chew the fat.